American Murder Song - Lullaby (Official Lyrics Video)

[@anywitchway3866]

This is what I got: The singer is putting a child to sleep (obviously) and is going to tell the child a story because there's "troubles and marks and sakes to keep" which I take to mean that the storyteller is going to pass this story onto the child to keep the misery and the lives of those lost from being forgotten. Troubles is self-explanitory, and marks could mean bruises or scares and the marks the travelers left on the world and those the world left on the travelers. I imagine "sakes to keep" is a play on keepsakes, which are physically passed down generations (such as the locket at the end) as well as through story. The story starts. Many people we're traveling on the dark road. Some were family, others we're strangers to each other, but they traveled together, or at least all went in the same direct. This story is specifically about one man, who definately has a wife as the song goes onto describe, but also has a child because "each pushed in fog with a wife and a child." "One freckle, three freckle, four" is just a nursery rhyme like refrain that adds to the creep-o-meter. The people are all traveling out of Virginia and into wild territory which means they are some sort of pioneers--think of the Oregon Trail game while listening to this song--or settlers. The wife of the man pointed out when the story started gets ill. Her husband ties her to the saddle of his horse (tied so she does fall off if she dozes, faints, or shivers) and keeps moving forward until the horse dies from exhaustion. Then, desperate, he carries her in his arms. No one in the expedition is doing much better then our main characters because everyone is drifting in and out of the fog, some never to return back into sight. The husband can no longer hold her. He's starving and freezing. He knows there's no way to save his wife, who he loved enough to carry for miles. He, and a man and that man's son, hold the wife down as the husband ends her suffering. No one spoke to stop him, because they all knew it was a mercy killing out of desperation. "Wagons and heels turned and limped as he froze." means the the other people, who had stopped and turned toward him during the mercy killing, started back down the trail, turning away from him. I do not think that this means he froze as in froze to death. I think he froze in his place, next to his wife's body, as everyone else just kept walking past. When he finally moves, he rips her locket away from the crows that have come to eat her. Once again he clearly loved her. When the next morning comes, everyone does not hold him accountable for the murder "Day came and he and his blood we're forgot." But the husband killed himself during the night, presumably slitting his wrists, and everyone remembers the sight of the blood gushing from his veins. The praires are littered with dead people. Once again, think of the Oregon Trail game. The storyteller wants to make it crystal clear (as if somehow it wasn't already) how gorey and tragic the journey to presumably where the child and the storyteller are living now was. The storyteller puts the wife's locket on the child's bed. The relationship of the storyteller to the man and his wife is unknown. But he was there on the trail in order to get the locket from the husband's body. And, going back to the line that every man had a wife and a child, I'd gamble the child is orphan of the husband and wife's. The refrain about the moon tied to the child's pillow and twice around his/her chest is a twisted reference to many other lullabies where the singer describes how they've caught the moon or pinned up the stars just for their child. This is the line I am the most unsure about, but I think "should the sky thunder and should the stars mist, water the branches inside of your wrist" means that, in American Murder Song fashion, the singer is saying if the child should get scared by thunder or a cloud-covered, black sky in the middle of the night, that the child should just cry to themselves about it. The branches in the wrist refers to the child's father's slit veins, but, a way to water them would be to cry with your palms over your eyes, like a child, with the tears dripping down your wrists. That's what I got from it. I'd love to hear any other interpretions :)

[@ohno8398]

I thought the 'he and his blood were forgot' was just the other travellers forgetting about him to deal with their own problems, but I like your interpretation better.

[@MissLunaria]

English is not my first language so I'm always having trouble to understand that kind of "poetic" lyrics, thank you for your interpretation, it helped me understand a lot more! :)

[@luckyfoxcandy5553]

what is the Oregon trail game? I found the Oregon trail online but nothing but tickets for stuff

[@anywitchway3866]

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Oregon_Trail_(video_game)#Death :)

[@FrauleinHarlequin]

I was just listening to the song all day and thought of another, yet similar interpretation about the "fate" of the father. I agree with what you said about the child and the "branches" that refer to the fingers (and I'm totally with you on everything else you wrote) but I think it is the same for the father. I don't think he cuts his wrists, I think "save from the branches that from his wrist shot" means that he has "blood on his hands" and he/his hands would never forget, what he did. Everyone else obviously did, because there was so much death around them that one more simply didn't matter. So it would be possible that the father is singing the song to the child so it would not forget. "Should the sky thunder and should the stars mist, water the branches that sprout from your wrist" could (in that context) mean that the child (and father?) always get sad, when it gets cloudy and there is fog ("the stars mist") because it reminds them of the terrible journey and the death of the mother/wife and so they do indeed cry into their hands. It could also be metaphoric for "being sad" in general. So when the child get's sad (especially because of the mother) it should cry.

[@mermaidgirl1123]

I'm from the Appalachians, and honestly, these songs sound like old folk songs you'd hear around here. They're amazing.

[@Daelyah]

Not too far from where I've lived my whole life...it's really nice to hear music like this. One of the few good things out this way...

[@TheLastHylianTitan]

random question, but i want to know more about appalachian folk music. do you know any songs i should look up or artists or bands who perform or get influence from them?

[@-mae-5524]

From a quick search it seems that is also where the 13 colonies were located,

[@coreywilliams3538]

@@TheLastHylianTitan if you want to look up a couple good songs still about the Appalachian area look up pete kosky he's a folk singer and writer who was my 10th grade history teacher

[@Laurabeck329]

I was just listening to this for a billionth time and realised "Shit the branches are blood!" How haven't I spotted that sooner?

[@skylermaves7272]

Am I the only one getting a 'In All My Dreams I Drown' feel from this song

[@TheaterRaven]

This is proof of real talent, when a voice can haunt you with its beauty and the power of its storytelling whether it's accompanied by electric guitars and heavy percussion or acoustic instruments and simple sound effects. Truly, Terrance is a modern bard. Bravo, sir, bravo.

[@TheaterRaven]

After listening to this for the thousandth time, not only am I still amazed at how stunning this song is, but I'm convinced Terrance could sing a chillingly beautiful rendition of "Mordred's Lullaby" by Heather Dale if he ever wished to do so. If you've ever heard the song, I think you'll agree. :)

[@TheaterRaven]

Yeah, really. Or Disney songs. And I just imagined hearing him sing "Hellfire" from "The Hunchback of Notre Dame" and now I need a minute . . .

[@emlestrange]

TheaterRaven Oh god I need this

[@lindathetford3776]

+TheaterRaven i can finally comment so id love to say DEAR GOD YES! and id need a year if he sang that lol god he's amazing

[@sherlockfan2000]

TheatreRaven-Now that you've mentioned it I'd love to hear Terrance singing Mordreds lullaby after hearing him singing this song. The sadness in Terrances voice when he sings this only adds to how utterly heartbreaking this particular song is when it hits you what the song's about, I can hardly get through the song without crying.

[@redrasegarden]

Dude I love heather dale! OMG what if they did a duet?!

[@blazerthedelphox]

I swear I can hear a voice whispering "Murder" just after the second repetition of "Save for the branches that from his wrists shot."

[@ienzio7795]

Blazer the Delphox Yeah it's definitely there

[@angie_666_0]

Blazer the Delphox same

[@petabulmer7345]

when I read your comment I had to listen again. Yes, it happens at 4.21

[@Shsy7573]

It’s there. I can hear it really well on my headphones

[@HobbitForming]

Reminds me of the Donner Party, with the snow and the wagons.

[@jem5378]

Listed under: things that make me really grateful I was born in the 1990s and not before.

[@queeneralynn1869]

If Terrance came up to me and said he was going to kill me i would probably let him, his voice is just so hypnotizing

[@DogFlamingoXIII]

Westward expansion and smallpox never sounded so beautiful.

[@mikhielrearaxin]

10/10 comment.

[@brrrnaner]

I was thinking of playing these songs in the background for my DnD campaign, but I literally am so captivated by the song that I can't focus on the map I was designing. I suppose I won't use it during the game, but to set the mood before or after would be amazing.

[@Icabobify]

Hey not sure if your still looking, but I had a thought for a campaigne I was going to build that I will most likely never get around to play. I think it would be clever if you weaved the lyrics of the song into potential dialogue that npcs could say while your party are maybe investigating a murder scene that took place along a decrepit and desolate road that was once popular and a main route for trade and travel that has becomes plagued by curse and woe. The lullaby that children say once started out as a mournful warning to travelers who should be prepared for the dangers of the road but now have become an almost ironic and cruel joke orchestrated by the gods to mock those who depend on traveling the road to survive and trade with other villages. Easy incentive to get the party to travel and investigate what happened to the road? Either a fortune teller whose family have grown sick sees in their readings that a town across the foggy road has found the formula for a cure that require specific ingredients that grow only around village B.

[@brrrnaner]

@@Icabobify wow, that's harcore!

[@Icabobify]

@@brrrnaner crap niw you got me thinking up some other concepts, hold on.

[@Icabobify]

@@brrrnaner okay so here's an idea if you want to incorporate other songs from this musical project into a dnd campaign. First off, to be clear the setting is a landscape that like the American Midwest (basic setting, flavor and add to it however you see fit, point is make the land have a vast plain/ prarie feel to it. The main road had a history involving a horseman who belonged to an order that would patrol the roads and keep travelers safe and deter dangers from obsctructing travel. This is where yiu can implanet the song "cry of the banished horseman" into the campaign. Essentially a party member would be plagued by hearing an echoing "Hello" in the distance. The party memeber is the only one who can hear it and even then they struggle to fogure out where the source is fornit is always far enough where it sounds like the wind carried it or the source is walking away from the player. Whether this is a curse left behind by a vengeful spirit of the horsemen or a trick conjured by the Fae and dark forces to lure travelers off the "safety" or the road you can decide.

[@Markolore]

So good. SO GOOD. It's ridiculous how you can both come up with such beautiful and enchanting music like this. Full album limited release on vinyl/digital, please?

[@turtlecat909]

This one is my favorite. That and wake up. Both are calming, even if you understand the meaning of the song, then it's an eerie calm

[@KrysJanaeVoice]

Terrance your voice is amazing. I love this song... playing on repeat this morning.

[@AnaxErik4ever]

I listened to it every night, for two weeks straight, right before I fell asleep this past Spring.

[@danielhill5778]

I love his voice. I know him from Repo and Devils carnival, but he still amazes me

[@NeurotiK137]

I could literally listen to him sing forever, and be at ease.

[@Clockwork-XIII]

I found myself singing this at work, just under my breath while doing paperwork. My co worker gave me the kind of look as if to subtlety ask "Are you ok?" Very good song, love the lyrics, love the music, love the tone.

[@tinglesrosyrupeeland]

Terrance was balls deep amazing singing this tonight in SLC 💗

[@AnaxErik4ever]

I was able to work out the lyrics on my own without help. This is my favorite song on the EP. Looking forward to more.

[@MGLeal]

For whatever reason I always think of The Donner Party when I listen to this.

[@VashtaNeradaDW]

I can't help but listen to this song over and over again. Hauntingly excellent. I'm speechless right now.

[@jamesbondbutgay1710]

Wish there was an hour long version fo this for me to fall asleep to [It's just very calming okay]

[@СарраКарагозян]

I think "he and his blood were forgot" refers to the man (who I believe is a singer) and his child (his blood), either being left behind the caravan or that everyone moved on with their lifes/pretended to forget what happened the other night ("Wagons and heels turned and limped as he froze"). The song mentions the man saving the locket from the crows - maybe the branches are scars from crows' claws and beaks? ("He strangled her locket away from the crows"/"Save for the branches that from his wrist shot") Maybe the child was hurt, too, but too young to really remember the mother.

[@Samaele2112]

This is immaculate I can see the story playing out as its being sung to me incredible I've loved every tale :D

[@elizabethdale616]

Beautiful and hopeless, haunting. A wonderful work

[@moondoria8401]

This song is my favorite out of all of them.

[@kuritech]

hey this is the same dude who sang that one song about the woman who feared going to bed because "in all my dreams i drown"

[@BonnyWicks]

Oh my God. I don't swoon...but hell. This is beautiful.

[@lindathetford3776]

i hear ya. honestly this man could make a concrete pillar swoon xD

[@DaniZdunich]

Absolutely beautiful. ❤🔑

[@DivineTorments.]

Terrance's voice is so fucking beautiful I can't- 😭🤘🖤

[@naurlind]

Still listening at work

[@opticalraven1935]

TZ is a very interesting man, one I hope to meet someday.

[@averyvolk3022]

He's very shy in person, but very sweet. ^_^

[@lindathetford3776]

+Ashley Miller aww i love when people are nice in real life also lucky you! :)

[@of_nobody]

Terrance is a trip. He is very sweet, but man... he's something else. (In a good way.)

[@lilithcollins6508]

I hope you meet him as well! I met him when I was 17, and had been a fan since the release of Repo! when I was 9. The man gives good hugs!

[@kidragakas]

My best theory is that they were originally part of a wagon train, traveling east from Virginia, possibly with other wagons holding other relatives. They got separated in the fog, and the wife got sick. Eventually another wagon with a stranger and his son came across them and they helped him kill his wife. The husband slit his wrists next to his wife’s body, after defending it from the crows and taking the locket. I think it’s being told by the stranger’s son (who helped pin the wife down with his father aka 'a man and his son'), passed the tale on of how he had to help a stranger kill his sick wife, and the unforgettable horror of his suicide ('troubles, marks and sakes to keep'), or maybe even the murderer's son. The wagon train moved on, after the father killed himself, and none of them could forget how he died, but no one could remember anything else about him (‘day came and he and his blood were forgot, except for the branches that from his wrists shot') They took the locket with them. The freckles are snow.

[@vickyvic8619]

Are the DVDs going to be on sale on Amazon?

[@rowanthered3050]

I found out about AMS through The Blood Crow Stories, and about shat when I found out graverobber was one I’ve the singers. I promptly showed Pretty Lavinia to my Partner and their response was basically “ooooooo!~ yas daddy!!”. We are both fans of Repo so having a whole new slew of that voice crooning is fuxin delightful.

[@subtleshenanigans5983]

Dang, so I'm here because this was on the songlist for a Redwall art challenge, and it makes me think of the plague of Loamhedge.

[@CindytheRedScout]

I wish I could download this, but alas, I am too poor... I swear when I have the muns, I will buy the whole albums!

[@TheAcidBites]

Can I just saw how fantastic this is?! I am in love Ever thought about doing a European tour?

[@zonkim1239]

oh my god... why dont I know your channel sooner

[@mynuose2]

I am so happy right now

[@MoiraiCWingus]

I love this....

[@sianne79]

I love everything about this song except the old fashioned dial up internet noise at the end.

[@blazerthedelphox]

I'm not the only one who thinks that these lyrics are really sad, right?

[@marlenak4170]

i mean these songs are largely about untimely deaths of the innocent

[@dominickkrikke2611]

when is american murder song part 2 available?

[@snowwolf9453]

why does this give me devil's carnival vibes

[@TheNoble117]

It’s the same guy

[@TheLastHylianTitan]

one freckle, three freckle, four it sounds like there was an illness with spots or pockmarks as a symptom.

[@kidragakas]

I always saw it as snow landing on upturned faces; there’s even snow falling over the video

[@cryoffearrx]

WHAT IS THIS MELODY?

[@jessicahall9119]

I believe this about the donner party in the height of yellow fever.

[@petabulmer7345]

Could someone please explain what the occasional bellow sound i hear is? It first appears at 1.30

[@ceciliasobo281]

It sounds like a train whistle to me

[@TheNoble117]

It’s a train whistle to reference that it was a wagon “train” leaving out of Virginia and into the wilds.

[@lailazarrabiyan3093]

Trying to understand the story of the song. Was the wife suffering from a disease? What are the branches that sprout from the wrist?

[@emmybananaart1188]

I'm not sure myself. Sounds gruesome though.

[@lucaslucena6306]

My interpretation is: A man, his wife and his child went withe his brother to the east (if they're facing the moon that looks to the west means they're going east) trying to escape the cold. Unfortunately, in the way he somehow got lost from his brother (some drifted missing), and his wife got ill. After their horse died, he carried her until he could no more, and found a man (some drifted found). Knowing they couldn't all be saved, the drifter and the man's child held the woman down as the man put an end to her misery, killing her so she wouldn't freeze and face a much slower death. Now, how the man and the child got saved confuses me, but I feel they managed to enter some kind of carriage as he stayed behind, freezing to death, together with his wife's corpse. The "branches from your wrist" could be veins and the blood ceasing to circulate due to the cold (hence, "water the branches) That's how I see it. Anyone got it differently?

[@kidragakas]

+EllerSolsikke I'd agree, since there are barely perceptible snowflakes falling in the clip. I'd agree the other stranger premise too; "strangers and brothers". Seems like one caravan got separated, found another after the wife got sick and the mare died. The other traveler helped him shoot his dying wife, and he took her locker from her body. Wording does suggest to me he slit his wrists after she died (people remember he killed himself)

[@lucaslucena6306]

+kidragakas YES! I've been thinking about it (More like "I've been obsessing about these lyrics lately", lol) and I think he killed himself after murdering his wife. "Branches that sprout from his wrist" could be the blood spreading through the snow, as he clung to her lockett while he died from blood loss/hypothermia

[@kidragakas]

+EllerSolsikke I was glad I wasn't the only one who thought of snowflakes for freckles, and 'sakes' for keepsakes (the locket)

[@debbieminor4803]

will you put these on Google play or iTunes eventually?

[@AmericanMurderSong]

Howdy, Debbie. The music to EP. I Dawn is currently available on both Google Play (bit.ly/AMS-google-DAWN) and iTunes (bit.ly/AMS-itunes-DAWN). Enjoy!

[@wolfnux]

Sadly. Not available in South Korea :(

[@hauntedyouth9625]

+American Murder Song you guys are incredible. Terrance your voice helps me sleep at night, theres just something about it that's very calming and keeps the insomnia from rearing its ugly head. thank you for making music that's worked far better for me than any prescription sleeping medication.

[@alymatronicdeeare8265]

Clef.

[@ayyitsbernieee8059]

Shame on the 10 thumbs down. Just shame

[@LadyDeirdre]

This is the basis for another song, similar but very different: kzbin.info/www/bejne/g3mTnpqAlNxqqbs

[@Rosehund0725]

I had a dream about my dad

[@ImTired17]

Real

[@rikkirrikkir3]

If you have hep A & you know it clap your hands. 👏! 👏! If you have hep A & you know it clap your hands. 👏 ! 👏!

[@AtaMarKat]

The Donner Party?

[@Laurabeck329]

This was about the winter of 1816. They have made an album about Donner party though and it's really good.

[@mariamjasim4177]

In all my dreams I fall by ThoseSadisticTendeices (Harry Potter) Gellert and Newt anybody? For some reason I can totally see Gellert sing this🤔🤯💜😁❤️🔥💞🤪